At the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) conference awards ceremony on Friday, Nov. 22, the Pullias Center was presented with the 2024 ASHE Special Merit Award. This distinction is presented annually to a person, group or organization in recognition of outstanding achievement and impactful contributions to the study of higher education through research, leadership and practice.
Professor Julie Posselt accepted the award on behalf of Center director Adrianna Kezar and the entire Pullias Center team. In accepting the award, Dr. Posselt stated "Thank you for this honor, which I am pleased to accept on behalf of Adrianna and the Center. A phrase we hear often in higher education research is “working in community.” While it’s valuable to do this within disciplinary or institutional silos, the real magic — true creativity, understanding, and impact — happens when we transgress boundaries. This was a hallmark of Bill Tierney’s vision for the Pullias Center: purposefully multidisciplinary, and intentionally bridging research, practice, and policy with a mission of creating change that advances equity in postsecondary access and success."The Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) has selected the Pullias Center for Higher Education as this year’s recipient of the ASHE Special Merit Award. This distinction is presented annually to a person, group or organization in recognition of outstanding achievement and impactful contributions to the study of higher education through research, leadership and practice.
Read Dr. Posselt's Full Remarks:
"Thank you for this honor, which I am pleased to accept on behalf of Adrianna and the center. A phrase we hear often in higher education research is “working in community.” While it’s valuable to do this within disciplinary or institutional silos, the real magic—true creativity, understanding, and impact—happens when we transgress boundaries. This was a hallmark of Bill Tierney’s vision for the Pullias Center: purposefully multidisciplinary, and intentionally bridging research, practice, and policy with a mission of creating change that advances equity in postsecondary access and success.
Since arriving at USC in 2016, I’ve been privileged to be part of Pullias and to work alongside brilliant colleagues, guided by Adrianna Kezar’s steady leadership through challenging pandemic and presidential times. Adrianna, along with Zoe Corwin, have modeled the power of academic advocacy—a call to use our freedoms not to sit still but to speak and act for change.
This recognition belongs to many. Thank you to ASHE, the awards committee, and our nominator. It’s also thanks to Pullias’ dedicated team: Monica Raad, Diane Flores, Sheryl MacPhee, and the many brilliant students, postdocs, and faculty affiliates who enrich our work every day. Royel Johnson, Adrian Huerta, Dwuana Bradley, Steve Desir, Joey Kitchen, and Ron Hallett are outstanding faculty colleagues.
We are grateful to our sister higher ed research centers in Rossier and their leaders, Darnell Cole, Shafiqa Ahmadi, Shaun Harper, Estela Bensimon. We also thank our funders and our partners in Los Angeles, across California, nationally, and internationally. The research-practice partnership model and the collaborations that make them up are the engine behind the change we pursue together.
Finally, we mourn the loss of two extraordinary and irreplaceable faculty affiliates this year, Tatiana Melguizo and John Slaughter. They were both gentle giants of their fields and their influence continues in the lives they touched and through their own advocacy in moments where it mattered the most. I dedicate this award to their memory. If you’re moved to contribute to Tatiana’s scholarship memorial fund, please reach out to anyone from the Pullias Center."
Upon announcing the Award, ASHE noted “The Pullias Center for Higher Education has been a vital force in advancing research and scholarship in the field of higher education for over 30 years, providing crucial resources for early-career scholars and supporting equity-focused research. The Center has also championed research-practice partnerships, transforming educational policies and practices in collaboration with the Los Angeles Unified School District, Los Angeles Community College District, and Cal State campuses. With a commitment to innovative research on underserved topics like college access, marginalized students, and non-tenure track faculty, the Pullias Center continues to push the field forward, offering open-access research that serves as a public good for scholars and institutions.”
“We are so honored to receive this award from ASHE for our contributions to the field, particularly around our work on research-practice partnerships, as well as supporting and mentoring early career faculty and students,” stated Pullias Center Director Dr. Adrianna Kezar, who also serves as the Wilbur-Kieffer Professor of Higher Education at USC’s Rossier School of Education. “I’m so proud of the work my colleagues do to advance equity in higher education. This award acknowledges the impact that we have had on policy, practice and research.”
“For 30 years, the Pullias Center for Higher Education has been one of the world’s leading research centers focusing on addressing the most pressing issues facing higher education. The Center’s groundbreaking work continues to shape policies and practices that promote equity and opportunity throughout higher education. USC Rossier School of Education is deeply proud of the Pullias Center and congratulates its team for earning this prestigious recognition from ASHE. We look forward to continuing to support the Pullias Center and its critically important work,” said USC Rossier School of Education Dean Pedro Noguera.
USC’s Pullias Center for Higher Education is the world’s leading research center on student access and success in higher education. The Center is focused on advancing equity in higher education and providing innovative, scalable solutions to both improve college outcomes for underserved students and enhancing the performance of postsecondary institutions. Begun in 1995 as a University of Southern California Rossier research center focused on higher education policy and practice, the Earl and Pauline Pullias Center for Higher Education was established in 2012 with a generous bequest from the Pullias family estate.
The mission of the Pullias Center for Higher Education is to bring a multidisciplinary perspective to complex social, political and economic issues in higher education. The Center’s work is devoted to the key issues of college access, retention, and accountability for underserved students — and the effectiveness of the colleges and universities that serve them. Both directly and through research, Pullias Center faculty and researchers engage with institutional leaders, policymakers and the community at large to address the major challenges in educational equity today.
